


Bond Snapshots: Daisuke

by GammaCavy



Series: Bond 'verse [2]
Category: D.N. Angel
Genre: Gen, Mind Link, Wingfic, Wings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-11
Updated: 2014-05-11
Packaged: 2018-01-24 06:14:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1594580
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GammaCavy/pseuds/GammaCavy
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Little snapshots of life in the Bond 'verse, dealing with the changes that they're undergoing. Daisuke's POV.<br/>Originally posted on FF.net, now up here as well.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bond Snapshots: Daisuke

**Author's Note:**

> some of these have companion scenes in Bond snapshots: Satoshi, so if you find things that make no sense you might need to read the other story.

**Mirror**

A week after the seal Daisuke still half expects Dark to appear in the mirror and tease him so the flash of violet was welcome; then he realized that it wasn't Dark. His eyes now had flecks of purple in among his reddish brown iris. Of a sudden Dark's last words came to mind: "Daisuke. Don't forget, I exist inside of you." Looking at the flecks of violet the same as the hue of Dark's eyes he smiled. He would always remember his surrogate older brother, his other half; the creature of magic and night that had been bound to his family centuries ago and at last was free. How could he not when the reminder was in the mirror every day.

* * *

**Freedom**

Although he loves Riku with all his heart he is not quite human anymore; not even kissing her could compare to the feeling of the wind under his wings, and the freedom of the moonlit sky. He knew she could never truly understand, and as he and Satoshi explore the skies on wings of ice blue and flame red he pities her. One day she will find out but even then she will not understand. He hopes she will forgive him this secret when the time comes.

* * *

**Sky**

Perhaps hardest of all is when the sky is a beautiful clear blue with few clouds, yet he dares not fly because he could be seen. Then he remembers when he had not known what it was to fly and contents himself with the chips of the sky only marred a few flecks of gold. His friend casts him a knowing look, which says ‘I know, wait til dusk.’ And then as dusk stains the sky with the red of twilight they fly.

* * *

**Thrill**

He had never told anyone, not even his mother of the secret thrill he found in stealing, and anyone who watched him protest would think he hated his duty, although he suspected Dark had felt the ripple in his emotions. But not even that adrenalin rush could match the thrill of dodging lightning as he flew through the thunderstorm.

* * *

**Spring**

Of all the things he had thought when he realized what Dark had left behind molting was not part of the list. Had Dark had to deal with this? Remembering the thief’s tendency to leave feathers lying around he decided Dark probably had had to deal with this. 

* * *

**Feathers**

“Daisuke, why are there so many feathers lying around?” Riku asked one day “Have you had your wings out more than usual?” “No I haven’t, only the usual for the night flights and sometimes I would use them for an extra blanket in winter when the furnace broke.” “Why are there so many feathers then?” Daisuke made a face “As spring came I found out that I molt” he said disgustedly “and the wings apparently don’t need to be out and visible to shed.”

* * *

**Great**

“Satoshi” Daisuke says one night after they land from racing a storm.  
"Yes Daisuke?”   
“Why did we end up like this when Riku and Risa had no side effects after the unicorn?” he shifted a wing indicatively.   
“The unicorn was only a lesser artwork, which might have something to do with it I suppose, aside from that Riku was only in the unicorns world for twelve hours or so and Risa even less; while our families have had magic seeping into them for centuries.”   
“…Oh. What do you mean a lesser artwork?”   
“There are two categories of artworks of magic; there are the lesser ones like the Saint Tears and the unicorn, as well as Mio Hio who was an attempt by my stepfather to recreate my families work. The Adonis of the garden of vows also falls into this category, as does Agate Links. Then you have the Great Works, such as Times Second Hand, The Edge of Sorrows, and unusual for one of the Great Works as she actually cares for humans, is the Eternal Guide; and the strongest of all the Great Works was the Black Wings. Even with it never having any real power since it was split into Dark and Krad they were individually stronger than any other artwork.”   
“Oh, I guess that makes sense.”

* * *

**Close**

There had always been an odd friendship between them, even though their families had been feuding for centuries and although Dark and Krad hated their human companions caring for each other. They made their displeasure known, by complaints and whining (although he wouldn’t admit to whining) in Darks case, and by death threats in Krad’s case, they had determinedly remained (slightly awkward) friends. After the sealing they grew closer together, and when it seemed that Riku was jealous, all Daisuke said was, “He understands, we were in the same situation.” And that was the end of it. When he realized Satoshi had the same thing happening to him it was natural that he bring the changes up; he knew full well his friend would never do it on his own. After discussing it they decided not to tell Riku and Risa about the magic they still had, after all how would they do it? Just randomly say “Oh by the way we still have wings and magic and are not quite entirely human anymore.”? No, they would let the Harada sisters find out on their own. Now faced with their shared secret being exposed he was afraid Riku would reject him. Then he heard his friend say simply "So, now you know." And while that was all that was audible he understood the unspoken words too. ‘They didn’t reject us when we were cursed, will they now? I doubt it.’ And now he realizes just how close to each other they’ve grown, and that, whether or not Riku accepts him, he will still have Satoshi who understands him. They are kin in a way after all.

* * *

**Longing**

When he flies there is freedom and joy, but also he longs for the other heart that once shared the skies with him. The space in the back of his mind that Dark once shared is empty and cold. Satoshi flies nearby but he cannot feel his friend in the same way he felt Dark. On the ground he longs to fly but must wait until he will not be seen and when he flies he longs for Dark’s companionship. It seems there will always be a longing for something in his heart, even if what that is changes. Sometimes there is also sorrow that the girl he loves cannot share this with him and a longing for that as well, but she is still human, she cannot understand this. Not even if he carried her because she would rely on him to fly, not feel the wind under wings as he and Satoshi do. She also probably would have trouble with the rapid altitude changes of diving as well as with thin air. One more longing that will never be fulfilled. At least if they travel somewhere that is not often visited they might be able to get away with flying in the sun. He will have to suggest that to Satoshi later. At least that longing can be fulfilled although the others will never be.

* * *

**Pain**

The one time when Dark was still there that Daisuke had been the one to fly, he and Riku had been falling off a cliff and he had needed wings to catch her. Dark had lent him his wings then even though Riku said later they had briefly been his red instead of Dark’s black. It had been painful then, like white-hot metal had been searing his shoulder blades as the extra limbs tore through his skin and extra joints grew in his shoulders. But he had managed to turn their fall into a glide and flap a few times bringing them into a curve, before Dark took over the flight and landed safely. Using his own wings does not hurt at all like that which is shocking at first, and then he realizes that these wings are truly part of him; not foreign the way Dark’s were despite the bond. They had been of Dark’s magic as much as his body. But these are his own, magic and flesh both are his and it is painless to call them. He suspects that if Dark had not helped him form wings that time he would not be able to do it now. 

* * *

**Dreams**

When he dreams he finds Dark again. The first time it happened was the night after he noticed the flecks of violet in his eyes. Sometimes he tells Dark about what happens in his life and sometimes they just enjoy each other’s company. He had thought that it was just oddly clear dreams but Dark’s worry upon hearing about the magic and the changes makes him wonder if that is true.

* * *

**Warmth**

He doesn’t have as much trouble with the cold as he used to. It is still a problem when he is trying to sleep in winter and the heater is broken but he doesn’t have nearly the trouble he ought when flying in the winter night or even in fall at great heights. He wishes he knew what he did when flying so he wouldn’t be so blasted cold right now. Apparently it isn’t just having his wings out. Oh well, at least they are warm enough that the sad shortage of blankets is less of a problem. He still hopes the furnace is fixed soon though, —waking up to find that he has managed to pin one of his wings under him isn’t fun.

* * *

**Stars**

The stars wheel past as he freefalls for a short time wings tucked in close to his body, tumbling wildly. Then his wings snap out slowing the fall drastically into a glide, matched by a blue blur a moment later. He catches a laugh borne on the breeze and smiles, he had been unsure if his usually calm friend would enjoy this, but apparently he does. They spiraled up in lazy circles around each other, dove back down in sudden swoops —gloriously isolated in the emptiness of the sky, closer to the stars than most could ever know. The wind turns sharply and they ride the wind shear rather than fight it, enjoying the caress of wind through feathers and hair until it is time at last to land once more and pretend to be only human.

* * *

**Clan**

The Hikari clan need to be shaken up Daisuke decides, listening to Satoshi’s almost inaudible sobbing trail off. The other boy had told him of the Academy he had had to go to as the heir to the main line, the tamer to Krad and the lessons he had endured there. The reason he always seemed so cold and distant, so determined to be his enemy. Something had to be done and two no longer human tamers landing in full ‘destroy what they disapprove of’ mode that mimicked Krad’s reaction to being called an angel of mercy would probably do it. Young minds had been warped long enough. 

* * *

**Itch**

It’s been there all day, in the most awkward spot between his shoulder blades and he just can’t reach all of it. He tried bringing out his wings and realized why it wouldn’t go away, the base of the wings was itching and apparently the wings didn’t need to really be there to itch; when they weren’t there the itch was under his skin and impossible to get to at all. After school he corners Riku and asks a favor, puzzled she agrees. After finding an out of the way spot he wills his wings into existence and asks her: “Scratch” plaintively. “The base of my wings has been itching all day but I can’t reach the itchy part with them out, and with them in the itchy part is under the skin” Laughing she scratches and the touch of her fingers through his feathers feels so good, it is utterly blissful as the itching stops. It is the first time she has really touched his wings since he was found out, she had run her fingers through his feathers then and he had told he not to, how far they have come since then. He had always been the one to set this boundary of wings; although he had used them to warm her a few times fingers in feathers had been off limits, how foolish he had been to avoid this. 

* * *

**Magic**

He realizes the dreams are real when the Dream-Dark listens to his frustration about figuring out the Feather magic that Dark and Krad had used, (he was trying for what seemed like the simplest, the feather projectiles that he called feather-blades)and gives him tips. When he wakes up the next morning he tries again, this time doing it the way the Dream-Dark had suggested. The feather stiffens and his hand tingles the way his back does before his wings sprout, he flicks his wrist and the feather shoots across the room like a knife and buries itself in the wall. The dreams are not merely products of his imagination it seems, today he will tell Satoshi about this step in magic and ask if his friend had the dreams too, then at night he will see Dark again and ask if Dark knew this would happen or why it is happening. His day planned out he pulls in his wings, so that his mother won’t find out about the changes (he is actually amazed she hasn’t found out yet) and goes down for breakfast. 

* * *

**Apprentice**

“Daisuke” Dark says one night “about seventy years ago I had an apprentice; I promised him I would look in on his descendants when I could, I didn’t get a chance this generation, would you look in for me?”  
Daisuke laughs, “Of course I will Dark, I just have two questions. One, what did you teach him? Two, what was the family name so I can track them down?”  
“I taught him to steal, and he was an orphan, he took the name Kuroba as his family name in honor of me.”

* * *

**Watching**

The city lights are like stars from this height, growing smaller and more distant with each wing beat. He watches the land fall away as he soars higher and higher, the buildings hardly distinguishable now, before turning his gaze to the moon above. No matter how many times he flies the joy will never fade. He hovers there for a time, simply content to watch the moon set and the sun rise, and then dives through the dawn, watching the sunrise from various heights before swooping low and diving through the window he had left open for just this reason.

* * *

**Crystal**

He used to love them, the sparkle of light, the myriad colors, the multi-faceted shapes. Then the Second Hand of Time took him; the Second Hand of Time’s art form was crystalline with a few metal decorations. He has never looked at crystals the same way again.

* * *

**Comfort**

There is an odd comfort in time spent with Satoshi, they went through so much together and understand each other better than anyone else. Landing from another flight in the sun for once he smiles as they touch down on soft grass. He is so glad that his idea of camping somewhere out of the way so they could fly in daylight was approved —and now here they are, in a little bowl shaped valley that is impossible to reach overland, on an island that is only really used as a camping spot when there is a meteor shower to watch. It is nice to not have to hide what he is, to have the freedom to simply be what they are together for longer than those night flights. 21: Alone No matter how long he lives with it he doubts he will ever be used to being alone in his own mind again. He had been bound to Dark for most of a year and grown used to having the other there, even though Dark was a pain at times. Now he is alone, he can hardly remember what it was to be alone before he turned fourteen. The dreams aren’t the same as living with Dark’s constant presence. Even when the thief was asleep he had been there, but now he is gone. Forever. Daisuke treasures the last feather from the others wings more than any gift.

* * *

**Empty**

‘Dark is gone.’ He doesn’t move at all the day after the sealing took place, one thought echoing through his mind over and over ‘Dark is gone.’ He remembers this emptiness from the Sage of Sleep incident, but this time Towa cannot help him retrieve Dark ‘Dark is gone’ Dark will never tease him again, never give him advice again, ‘Dark is gone’ His mind is empty of the thief’s presence, empty of everything except that one thought ‘Dark is gone.’ His eyes land on the shirt lying on the floor where he had dropped it, exhausted, to collapse into bed last night. ‘Is that’- he moves for the first time, shaking the shirt out and to his joy a single black feather drifts free. Dark may be gone but he will never be forgotten, Daisuke decides. He will treasure that feather always, and it will remind him that once he was tied to magic, that once he flew with Dark.

* * *

**Tomorrow**

Tomorrow they return home, to the city, to Risa and Riku, to a cage where they must pretend once more to be only human. Where they can only fly at night and must keep their wings hidden. He mourns the coming of tomorrow, and yet home is a tie to humanity, home is family, Mom and Dad, Grandpa, Towa and Argentine, who know what he and Satoshi have become, but keep the secret and understand, being Hikari Great Works and magic in their own right. Perhaps going home tomorrow isn’t too bad. 

* * *

**Wings**

Krad flew on wings of purest white. White is a symbol of purity, yet he was, to be blunt, evil. White wings are said to be dangerous to their host, yet white is often used in situations calling for peace. Dark flew on wings of midnight black. Black is the color of shadows. It is also the color of darkness. People jump at shadows, and young children tend to fear the dark, yet Dark was the good for Krad's evil. Satoshi has wings of icy silver-blue that reminded him of the cold and snow in the world of the second hand of time, matching his friend’s seemingly unflappable personality and icy demeanor. But there was joy and playful warmth under the mountain of ice, although most never saw it. His own wings however sprang from his back, dripping the crimson liquid that just happened to be the same color as the soaking feathers surrounding him and Riku the first time he called them. His wings make him wonder if wings truly are a physical extension of the soul and, if they are, what part. Then he remembers that red is also the color of warmth and passion as well as blood and hate, and he will not deny that he is a warm caring person. 

* * *

**Niwa**

Ironic that his family name means red feather, Daisuke muses one night, what with the hue of his wings. Myriad dazzling shades of ruby red, vermillion, and carmine like a flickering flame when he shifts his wings or light hits them right.

* * *

**Wind**

He had always loved it, the wind in his hair as he crouched on the roof, the chill on his skin in winter but he had never expected to learn it as he knows it now: buoying him up in the cool night, riding the sharp wind shears, or in his face when he dives from high up like a stooping hawk. Up he soars again and into the storm above, the wind his only companion in this dizzying flight, dodging lighting in a canyon of clouds and flying higher still out of the cloud layer. He is above the storm now, gliding through a clear night sky as he catches his breath after the thrill of racing the wild wind and catching it for the ride of his life.

* * *

**Fight**

They are working out how to do magic now, and he suggests a play fight, like the ones Dark and Krad had every time they saw each other, only less lethal. To his surprise the reaction he gets to his semi-serious suggestion is not a vehement NO, but a contemplative. “That might actually be a good idea, after all there are still Hikari works with power out there, and I felt the seal on Argentine break this morning.” “Argentine’s loose!?” he yelped. “He is free, but he shouldn’t have much power at the moment. Hopefully we can get him to see sense now that he isn’t overpowered with incompatible magic to the point of being almost a Great Work, and having his mind warped by that as well as being mad with grief over Quallia.” “Let’s hope so.” Daisuke muttered worriedly. “ In any case, the stronger magic artworks tend to be able to take on multiple forms and fight back at attempts to seal them, so we need to practice in a less dangerous setting, which is why your idea is a good one.” 

* * *

**Safe**

It isn’t that he feels in danger at other times but with Takeshi he has to bite his tongue to keep from blurting the truth out at his friend’s wild theories about Dark. With Riku he can be a bit more himself because she knows in the abstract what he and Dark did and why; she also knows about what he has become, caught half way between magic and a human life as he is, but she does not understand it, still human as she is and he would not wish this life on her. With Satoshi he doesn’t need to hide anything, the other boy is in the same position as him after all. When the two of them spend time together it is safe to just be who and what he is without hiding anything.

* * *

**Wizard**

‘J.K .Rowling doesn’t know the first thing about magic’ he thinks, dodging Satoshi’s feather barrage and retaliating with four feather-blades and two exploding ones mixed in, his partner evades the blades but is caught on the edge of the explosions. This is magic, at its rawest, and human magic is chants and ritual, not waving a stick that could be lost or broken. There are no wizards or witches, not as Rowling made them, and the only reason to read Potter is that the story is good even though he keeps getting annoyed by the wizards there. He divides his attention between launching more blades and pulling up a barrier as soon as the blades are clear, gaining him the time to gain altitude instead of dodge, the book that his mother and girlfriend are obsessing over forgotten as he takes the advantage of height.

* * *

**Invitation**

He stared at the piece of paper, amused by his oldest friend’s transparent attempt to see their female classmates in scanty clothes by inviting their entire class to a costume birthday party. Then an idea struck, he thought about the contents of his closet including some of the more outrageous outfits his mother came up with that not even Dark would wear, then picked up the phone and dialed. “Hello Satoshi, did you get Takeshi’s invitation for the party? I know you don’t really party too often but I had this idea…”

* * *

**Costume**

He stared at the door for a few seconds, “Nervous?” a calm voice inquired. He shook his head mutely. “We can still change plans.” Satoshi said.   
“No, I’ll manage, this is just strange.” He took a deep breath.   
“I know.” Satoshi reached out and rang the doorbell.   
Almost immediately Takeshi opened it, and stated in surprise.“Wow those are really good costumes guys; if I didn’t know better I’d think they were real. Come on in the party is just starting.” They followed, taking care not to bump into anything, until they entered the main room where the party was, there was Riku as a fox, and Ritsuko in a catsuit; he rolled his eyes. People paused in what they were doing as the two of them entered, and all eyes turned towards the two of them, him in an outfit that had been assembled from some of the more peculiar things in the closet and his shimmering crimson wings folded behind him, for once able to show them without worry. Satoshi was next to him wearing what looked suspiciously like one of Krad’s outfits minus the robe thing, with an equally large pair of silver-blue wings behind him. For once they can be a bit more of what they have become without worry of being exposed; after all it is a costume party. 

* * *

**Locks**

They are no barrier to him anymore, not that they were much of one before, he is a Niwa after all and all of the Niwa clan are thief trained, but locks used to take more effort to open then they do now. Granted he opens the art room on a regular basis because some idiot keeps locking it when the cleanup hasn’t been done yet, but practice shouldn’t increase his speed this drastically. The twenty sixth time he does it he realizes that the same slightly tingly warmth that comes with forming his wings and using feather magic also happens when he opens any lock. It seems that this is something he doesn’t need feathers for but it is not something he remembers Dark doing. Maybe Satoshi has an idea how this can be happening, after all the Hikari didn’t always create magic art on purpose. 

* * *

**Might**

Sometimes he wonders what life might’ve been like if there was no magic, or if Risa had said yes to his asking her out on his birthday. If there had been no magic then life would’ve been more normal but boring compared to this, he supposes. And if Risa had said yes he would never have known Dark or befriended Satoshi, who would’ve died young. Thus ending the main line of the Hikari clan and setting off an internal war in that clan of artists which would’ve probably caused a lot of collateral damage as the stronger artworks woke with no one to seal their power. He is glad that his life went this way instead of any other possible might’ve been.

* * *

**Flying**

Nothing else compares, even roller-coasters don’t to pitting his wings against the air currents with the knowledge that he was the only thing shaping his course, held aloft by only his own strength, there are no words in any language of this world to describe it. To share the sky is even more euphoric than to simply fly alone, and although neither of them has spoken of it he knows his friend agrees with him on this. Rain lashed, lightning flared, storm tossed, very windy, or clear, the sky is theirs to explore. Their secret joy, that none but them can truly understand, having not flown as they do. 

* * *

**Tempest**

They race it, borne on the front edge of the winds, using the air on that edge to push them on faster than they could ever fly on their own strength, unless they were diving anyway. Rain lashes just behind and sometimes they feel it stinging, but that is nothing to the joy of racing down the tempest, aloft on the wild wind. This is as much a part of what they are as their human heritage after all, not quite magic, but not quite human anymore either, they exist between. If they didn’t have each other the loneliness of being the only one caught between would be overwhelming, but they do have each other. When only showing their human sides grows stifling they will fly and practice magic together, flying together at least twice a month, sometimes more, as well as whenever a storm comes in. Lightning flashes and he dodges on instinct, laughing exultantly; his introspection forgotten in the adrenalin rush of dodging lighting in the tempestuous skies.

* * *

**Choice**

About two months after the sealing Towa comes to them in bird form one afternoon, with an unaccustomed seriousness that shows she is acting in her capacity as the Eternal Guide and says with no preamble “The two of you have a choice; you are at a threshold level of magic. If you stop experimenting with and cut back on using magic you can still return to being normal humans as the magic fades. If you continue with it however, you will not be fully human anymore but somewhere in between creatures of magic and humanity.” Well that was an unpleasant shock. They need to talk about this, he knows instinctively that if he chooses on his own and then finds out that Satoshi chose the other it will hurt, because that way he will be alone again, with a dividing line of magic’s choice between him and the only person who understood him. “Congratulations”, his friend says bitterly, “you can have that normal life you’ve always wanted since magic came into the picture now”.   
He is astonished. “You think I’m going to choose just like that? No, we need to think about this carefully first.” Joy flares in his friend’s blue and gold eyes at that and the two of them sit down to talk about whether or not to choose magic.

“Have you made your decision?” Towa asks.   
“We have.”  
“Then what do you choose?”   
“We chose magic.” He says, and a moment later Satoshi adds, “It would cost us more to give this up than to keep it” 

* * *

**Sleep**

He doesn’t need as much sleep as he used to, and is rather startled that he hadn’t realized that with all the night flights he was getting less sleep and therefore should be more tired than he is. Oh, he still needs it and can sleep as much as he used to. But it seems like he only needs a few hours, and if he doesn’t get that much at night or has used a lot of energy, catnaps throughout the day are enough. 

* * *

**Need**

The one month that the two of them couldn’t get away to fly because there were a lot of school trips, some overnight, they got more and more touchy, short tempered and just plain cranky. Even Takeshi was cautious around them by the third week, and considering that Takeshi was never cautious that kind of shows how irritable they were. They were slightly less irritable with each other and figured out that the tempers were due to not having a chance to fly, it seems they need to fly now, need to use their magic so they won’t have it building up and doing this to them. After they figure it out he can feel the need, like his whole body is trying to lift of the ground, straining for flight. He suspects Satoshi feels something similar from the way his friend looks at the sky. He has almost never seen that face looking longing and wistful before.

* * *

**New**

The seasons turn and winter comes, marking a year since the sealing, and almost a year since the choice, since they became magic. It is New Year’s Eve, and he had badgered his family into inviting Satoshi over for the celebration, knowing full well that his friend would spend the evening alone otherwise. They have their own private celebration planned after every one is asleep, it involves magic. ‘Its time.’ Everyone is in bed, he knows the schedules of his family well, and Towa and Argentine won’t hinder them. He opens the window quietly and climbs out followed by Satoshi a moment later. No words are needed between them for this and as one they jump, wings spreading to lift them higher, until on some unspoken signal they shift to the miniscule wing shifts needed to hover in an air current, and let magic loose; feathers charged to explode collide midair in their own fireworks display, loud enough to wake the people asleep below and yet not deafening to the two of them as they let themselves go wild. 

* * *

**Trap**

Really, why does his mother leave the house traps set now, he can get through the course so easily. He voices this thought to her over breakfast and regrets it later when he comes home to find that the y have all been upgraded. It took two speed boosts and a lot of dodging and various acrobatics to get to the end. And then the lasers fired as he opened the door to the living room, there wasn’t time to dodge, instinct took over and the laser beam fizzled against the translucent barrier he had formed unthinkingly —and right in front of his family too. ‘Oh crap!’ Was his first thought, his second one was, ‘Oh well, they had to find out sooner or later.’

* * *

**Theft**

‘Dark taught the first Kuroba well’ Daisuke muses from the roof he claimed near the museum that was scheduled for a raid tonight. Normally he would be flying on a full moon night but his promise to Dark takes precedence over personal enjoyment. ‘There!’ a flash of white as the thief that most of the world knows only as Kid gets away on a hang glider. Kid is the latest Kuroba, he is sure now, many of the escape techniques were ones he had learned as a boy and used stealing with Dark. The use of those skills in the same area as a family by the name of Kuroba lived told him he had found the apprentice’s descendant. He stretched and spread his wings, as soon as the crowd dissipated, winging his way towards the Kuroba house. This young thief has potential, and given that he returns what he steals seems to be looking for something; he owes it to a distant relation by adoption to offer help. (And besides if he doesn’t have an answer for Dark as to why exactly the youngest Kuroba is earning the title phantom thief, Dark will pester him until he does have an answer on their nightly meetings.)

* * *

**Love**

He had always loved the darkness even before he knew Dark; it had been comforting, an escape where he could go unseen, or a blanket of shadows that concealed his stealthy form when he wanted to be unnoticed. (No one had ever caught him at hide and go seek.) He could see exceptionally well in utter blackness too, with a level of night vision that all his peers found creepy and weird, so he learned to conceal it, to be deliberately clumsy in the darkness he so loved. So was it any wonder that he had loved the thief who shared his mind, who was the night and shadows personified? He loved Dark, unsure of how exactly, but Dark was his partner, his literal other half, nestled seamlessly in his mind and heart since the day he turned fourteen. If he were asked how he felt about Dark he could only answer ‘I loved him.’ But it was a love that defied description or definition, he and Dark were he and Dark and that’s all there was to it. Though from what he gathered from his grandfather’s stories of being Darks Tamer, Dark had cared more for him than any other Tamer. 

* * *

**Brothers**

It was hard to find a word that accurately describes his relationship with Satoshi, he mused after Riku asked just what was going on between them. It was more than a simple friendship, but not a romance, no matter what his friend’s jealous fan club thought. The magic shared and the things they had gone through together had bonded them so tightly that they would always come to each other at need. A partnership and easy camaraderie, but more than that, it was a knowledge that ‘he is like me, we are the same,’ turning the loneness of magic to a joy, for they were not alone. Their relationship isn’t quite brotherhood either but that is the closest approximation he can make. 

* * *

**Act**

He doesn’t really fit in among his classmates and casual friends anymore; too much has happened, he is just too different now after everything, even if he were still human he wouldn’t fit amongst them now, much less as he is. They will never know the sky, or the thrill of escaping into the night with a Hikari artwork to seal. They will never know how off the play of Ice and Snow was either, or that the name was really Ice and Dark, any more than they know about the Second Hand of Time. They think they know him but he is no longer the person they knew, he is sick of putting on an act, of pretending to have not changed at all. It is always a relief to be able to drop the act and be himself, even if he still needs to hide the magic.

* * *

**Twilight**

When Riku came over to visit citing a need to escape from her sister going on about how great this new romance novel is he was very sympathetic. But when out of curiosity he asked what this novel was and heard that it was Twilight he was absolutely appalled, especially when he heard that Risa was especially invested in the fact that the main character was falling in love with a stalkerish supernatural creature. What did she need to read about some wimp falling in love with a stalker vampire when in real life she had and her sister both had him and Satoshi, who were real and magic capable and not stalkers. “At least she isn’t at the point where she thinks that since it is romantic in the book that is how real boyfriends should behave.” Riku said after she finished ranting about it. “But if she keeps on like this I’m kind of worried that she will reach that point soon.” “ We could stage an intervention.” He said. “This world she loves isn’t real but magic is real, I’m living proof. Maybe if we remind her that magic is real and she knows two people who are magical we can get her to stop this obsession.” “That would be good; she hardly ever puts that book down and forgot to eat twice yesterday.” “Sheesh that’s just unhealthy, let’s all three of us put our heads together and figure out what to do.” 

* * *

**Flight**

Endless landscape stretches out before me, expanding past the horizon on all sides. The clear, endless sky is above me, and all around me, the air thin and fine and crystal-clear and sharp. I tilt my wings, let the new current take my body, and I soar above a bank of cloud, seeing each facet and valley and rise on its intangible surface. A strong wind whistles in my face, smelling of seawater and damp earth. It ruffles through my feathers and hair, its slipstream propelling my aerodynamic, powerful body onwards towards the horizon, and what waits beyond. The sun warms my back, the wind caresses my face, and my soul is filled with the utter, pure, unchallenged joy of flight. I tuck my wings and arms close to my body and plummet in a free-fall for the pleasure of it, screaming in delight. My wings snap out again and I pull up against the wind's breast, riding on a gentle under-current, coasting. It is so beautiful up here; I never want to come down. The trivial matters of my wing muscles that would eventually tire mean nothing to me, while I soar up here in the sky, knowing the freedom that only one other person shares, my dearest friend and partner. A streak of azure and argent erupts out of the cloud bank ahead and a little to one side of me, and I dodge to avoid hitting him, as he levels out and throws me a challenging glance before speeding away. Laughing I accept my friends silent challenge to race. 

* * *

**Memory**

He remembers when, was it really only a year? It felt so distant and long ago now, the day he turned fourteen and lost the normal life he had thought he had, all unknowing what lay ahead as he turned fourteen. Now a year later he wonders at the memories of that normal life seeming faded and so long ago, when the day when he first touched magic as Dark entered his life is so crisp and clear, as are all memories since then. Dark’s laughter, Towa’s bubbly “don’t call me miss’ I’m not even a hundred yet.”, Satoshi saving his life multiple times by holding back Krad and then trying to push him away for his own safety, Riku in the cave of stars when he realized he loved her. These memories are so crisp that whenever he thinks of them they might have just happened yesterday. He wonders if they will ever fade, but he doubts it.

* * *

**Fall**

Unsurprisingly, I have no fear of heights or falling, I never was afraid of heights to begin with but I did try not to come too close to edges, even with the knowledge that Dark could take over and fly us to safety. But now I throw myself off of cliffs, high ledges, and buildings, without feeling the slightest wariness of falling. It is this that makes me realize that the changes have affected my mind too. I should probably be worried about that but I’m not really, then again it might not be the magic that affected my mind; after all Dark loved jumping off high places, secure in the knowledge that he would never hit the ground. Maybe now that I have my own wings, that is why there is no fear.

* * *

**Water**

When the four of them go to an out of the way beach cove that doesn’t get much use despite being incredible because it’s nearly impossible to get to(unless you can fly, he had originally spotted it from the air) a giant water fight ensued. And since it was so hard to reach he and Satoshi still had their wings out, reasonably confident that no one would see them. It turned out that the limbs that were large and powerful enough for sustained flight even when carrying someone else, were equally good at splashing immense quantities of water. Needless to say Riku and Risa lost the water fight, and the next one, and the one after that, at which point the teams were altered so that it was him and Riku against Satoshi and Risa. That is how it was discovered that wings also worked well at blocking immense splashes of another’s wings. Later when all four of them are out of the water to eat the picnic they brought and just generally relax, he instinctively half spreads his wings and flaps twice to get the water off before the salt mats his feathers, the yelps and startled noises make him realize in embarrassment that he just scattered water and blew some sand at his girlfriend. ‘Oops.’ He realizes that Satoshi did the same though so he feels a bit better about the screw up. 

* * *

**Earth**

No matter how high they fly they must always return to the earth again, to solid ground instead of airy cloudbanks, to stand and walk and run, instead of glide over valleys and skim low grasses on hills. And as they fly high enough to see the horizon curve away below and so much of the earth is visible beneath them, it is amazing how everything seems small and grows as they return to the earth once more. Until they fly again.

* * *

**Burn**

They don’t get sunburns anymore; he realizes that on the second day on the island. Yesterday had been spent mostly in the air, relishing the sunlight without even thinking to put sunscreen on first. And yet despite how long they flew, how high they went, and how his friends pale skin should burn easily, they have no sunburns. Not that he minds this but it is very strange and not at all something he would’ve expected to have happen.

* * *

**Owl**

The first time I heard Owl City’s music it was the song ‘Take to the Sky’. I have been an avid fan ever since, but that first song will always be special for the way it mirrors my life so well and as I take off I find it playing in my mind, ‘bid the forest floor goodbye as you race the wind and take to the sky’ as I do just that with each beat of my wings taking me ever higher into the night, with a gentle breeze combing my feathers as I fly. 

* * *

**Seekers**

For as long as there is Hikari art that we can take we will do so. And when there is no more in our usual range we will seek farther afield. But as long as we can we will seek out the works of magic, to keep them from causing harm, whether on purpose or just by being so irresistible that people will do anything to own them , wars and murders happen if a work grows unchecked while sleeping. And I asked Satoshi about the gem that the young Kaitou seeks to destroy; Satoshi also thought it sounded familiar and said; “Why don’t we just ask Towa, she is the Eternal Guide, despite being young she is a Great Work, and nothing can hide from her if she is asked to find it.”

* * *

**Forsaken**

I can’t imagine what life would’ve been if I’d chosen normality and humanity over this, to be forsaken by Dark and not even have the skies to console me or to let my feelings loose. As it stands now Satoshi and I are the last of our lines, the last heirs to the main lines of the Niwa and Hikari clans, who are the only people left in the world that know of magic and even so are not what their forbears were. And of our kind we are first and last, living proof that magic has not entirely left the world except in works of art. We are here and we will carry the spark of magic with us, and hope that there will never be others like us who are caught between worlds, because what it would take for someone else to become like this was hard enough on us. I would not wish it on someone else. 

* * *

**Walking**

Despite the sheer unbridled joy of flight and the speed lent by wings and wind, there are times when he probably could go flying in safety but instead chooses to walk and run as humans do, and remember what it is to be human. He has no desire to lose that side of himself, on this tightrope he walks between magic and mortality it is easier to lean towards magic —yet before he became magic he was human. And so he walks and runs, trips, jumps and falls, and remembers not to lose sight of either half of himself. 

* * *

**Hawk**

“Hey Daisuke, do you ever wonder what it would be like to be a bird?” Daisuke pulled his attention away from the circling hawk he’d been watching out the window, envying its freedom to fly in the sun, and turned around. “Where did that come from Takeshi?”  
“You stare out the window at them so often; I thought maybe that was why.”  
Daisuke hid a smile, “I think being a bird would be fun, the freedom of flying and having no rules or boundaries.” He left unsaid that he knew more about that sort of thing than most humans did, given what he had become.   
“But being a bird would also be hard.” another voice added “What with no shelter except what they can find, and always hunting for food.”  
Takeshi jumped, “Ack! Don’t sneak up on people like that!”   
“I wasn’t trying to” Satoshi said dryly, and Daisuke felt his friends amusement in the silent _'although he didn't make it all that hard if I had wanted to.'_ that his friend 'said'. It was still a bit odd, to speak to each other like this but it was comforting too. Even when they weren't 'talking' there was an awareness that the other was there.   
"But even with the food and weather, don't you think it'd be great to be a bird?" Takeshi just wasn't giving up.   
"To be a bird, no."  
And Daisuke added "But to fly? Yes."

* * *

**Gentle**

Although anyone who looks at the sky on a clear day or night would expect the higher heights to be slow and gentle, I who fly there know that that is questionable. At times the high winds seem to support me tenderly if I only want to glide with the wind under my wings, but attempting to go against the wind or perpendicular to it shows that it is nothing but strong. It can be soft and uplifting, and then violent and screeching, seemingly trying to tear me apart as I let myself fall.

* * *

**Thunderstorm**

Even my best friend thought I was insane for enjoying flying in the heart of a thunderstorm. But how can I explain it, the thrill in storm flying to go lightning dodging is that there is always a risk, but you know where and when the lightning will flare and dodge instinctively. Flying in a thunderstorm I can drop all my barriers, all my masks that hide what I am and just let my power lose, confidant in the knowledge that there is no harm I can do here. When I spend time with Satoshi I can drop every mask but the control I hold over my magic can only be relaxed some, because I know that if I let go he would survive and rein me in. But I don’t know what else would survive my magic as it goes wild. He has more barriers and masks than I do, although the only barrier he holds when we are alone is the same as the one I hold. This is why I try so hard to get him to fly a thunderstorm and outrace the lightning with me, I know that a chance to let go will be good for him in the long run.

* * *

**Kink**

It is nice, even when he doesn’t have time to fly, to stretch the kinks out of his wings. The twelve and a half foot span from the tip of one to the other makes it hard to stretch them properly indoors without bumping into things though, and the only room large enough is the basement storeroom, also known as the vault of magic art, or the ‘Treasury of the Unsurpassable Dark, Phantom Thief Who All Other Thieves Aspire to be’ according to said thief anyway.

* * *

**Motion**

No matter how many times he flies high the awe of seeing the motion of the clouds from above never gets old. When one has seen them from below a thousand times it becomes less interesting unless you look for shapes, but behind them all there is, is blue, blue, and more blue. But from above there are clouds, and beneath the clouds when they move, land, towns, hills, water, all revealed and hidden by the motion of the clouds.

* * *

**Change**

The change to magic is so gradual that after the initial shock it was easy to not really think about how it all worked. Using magic was about as instinctive as moving or breathing once he figured out how to do it, and about the only shocking thing was the mindlink, which had seemingly come into existence after they chose magic. But even that didn’t take long to get used to, after all they were both used to having another person in their minds, at least the link can be toned down.

* * *

**Vision**

He realizes his vision got a boost by the change when simply looking down he can recognize people walking home in the early winter evening. There’s Takeshi, and there goes one of Riku’s sports friends, and there’s grandpa on his way home from something or other. Come to think of it Dark did do something similar to this once, when Adonis was active, Dark had seen him and Ayeka from the sky. A distant flicker of color catches his eye and he focuses on it, that blue only belongs to one person, and Daisuke wheels over in that direction, circling twice before exasperated amusement reaches him. Then ‘I know that’s you circling over my head Daisuke, just because you’re up high enough that you seem like a bird from ground level doesn’t mean I can’t tell its you. When did you find time to take off without being spotted?’

* * *

**Learn  
**

You learn something new every day, he thinks, steadying his flight homeward after withdrawing from Satoshi’s mind. So he has relatives all over the world because the Niwa scattered to search for magic. He had known intellectually that since he was of the main Niwa line there were other lines, but it had never really sunk in before, and someday he would be in charge of all of them. It’s a daunting thought.

* * *

 

**Cooking**   
When he found out that despite the fact that Satoshi rarely ate much he was very adept at baking he was startled. His friend’s explanation of being good at it because “It bored Krad to sleep.” made sense though, and the cookies in particular were the best he ever tasted. But still the thought of his taciturn reserved friend baking is strange. 

 

* * *

**Blur**

Moonlight sparkles on water beneath him, as laughing he skims the wave crests, the wind of his wings scattering the light into a thousand shards, silver lights more numerous than the stars against the dark water. Then he silently soars up and away, the sparkling diamonds of moonlight on water blurring out of visibility. Now He lives in the moment, remembering but trying not to live in the past, that isn’t what Dark would’ve wanted. And besides, it’s not like Dark is entirely gone from his life, even if they aren’t constantly intertwined anymore, he sees Dark every night. So he treasures each moment, life as the clumsy artist that most people see, and life as a creature of magic and the skies, because he has a feeling that someday he will be unable to live the quasi normal life he does now.

* * *

**Silence**

Even before the mindlink happened they were good at knowing what the other wanted to get across, simply from knowing each other. But now they can have long conversations without a word spoken, which aggravates the Haradas when the two of them drop into thought speak without even realizing it, and the one time that someone else caught them at it there was nothing apparent except for the fact that the both of them burst out laughing at something that no one else could hear. They can spend so long sitting in silence, speaking without words, but with thoughts and emotion, and he treasures these moments when his friend will open the link to more than thoughts deliberately aimed at each other, but to emotion and sensation and all thoughts and their minds mingle and there is closeness and affection and warmth, thoughts that are more color and sound than anything else, seemingly half asleep to anyone who might see them.

* * *

**History**

Red eyes flecked with violet scan over the page rapidly, and then he turns to the next page, and the next, worry growing with every detail of Pandora’s bloody history in the book, searching for clues to its location throughout known history. Known as the Philosophers Stone, it was held by Nicholes Flamel for a time, and then disappeared again, but there were stories of crimson stones that were fought over all throughout history. The best description of it dated from the last time it was seen; a perfectly smooth egg shaped stone, so smooth and round that people thought it was fake, but when the full moon’s light touched it it would give an eerie red glow, more than reflected light from the opaque red stone. It had been set in a necklace for some rich lady, but the ship it was being transported on sank and the gem was lost until divers found the hoard, all unknowing what had been found.

* * *

**Wait**

On the cliff where they meet he waits for his partner, scarlet wings already out and loosely folded. Impatience stirs within him and he forcefully stills his wings from the restless stirring, turning his attention inward to the link. _‘Where are you?’_ he sends. _‘We agreed to meet twenty minutes ago.’  
‘I’m on my way, just was delayed by the big crowd outside the art store, there’s a sale on.’_ His friend pulls away from Daisuke’s mind. Two minutes later they leap from the cliff and soar upwards, it is much better to fly with company than alone. And as his friend’s joy seeps across, Daisuke decides it was worth the wait.

* * *

**Power**

They may not be pure magic or as strong as Dark and Krad, but half as strong as the most powerful of all the Hikari Great Works is more than enough to deal with pretty much any artwork that tries to harm them, especially when they are both there. Some works don’t even try to harm them, knowing that there is no point in trying for it would only end in defeat. Less intelligent works have tried though, and some even mange to do some damage before being sealed. He had known that he had about half of Dark’s magic, and Satoshi had half of Krad’s, and Satoshi had told him that Dark and Krad had each been stronger on their own than any other Hikari work, except what the complete Black Wings could’ve been if it hadn’t been split into Dark and Krad, but realizing how powerful he and Satoshi really were in comparison to most magical things (except for Hikari Great Works, which they were about equal to, luckily there had only ever been six of those, two were destroyed*, one had very specific boundaries on what it could do** ,one was sealed away***, and the other two were currently working for the Niwa clan****) 

* * *

**Claim**

After dealing with an artwork that had mind control as one of its abilities he asked Towa why it hadn’t tried to control him. She had only looked at him for a moment, unusually serious, and said “It’s to do with Dark, and I’m sorry I can’t give you a better answer, but you would’ve had to ask him.” So that night he does ask Dark.   
“ Dark?”   
“Yes Daisuke”  
“I ran into the Laughing Fox today, it’s sealed now. But it has the power of mind control, so why didn’t it try to control me?” “That’s easy Dai, it’s because you’re mine. You were my tamer and partner, one of the rare few who were willing to work with me, and my magic left a mark on you.”   
“I knew that” Daisuke said, gesturing to his loosely folded scarlet wings “but what does that have to do with mind control?” “By my mark I don’t mean the changes.” Dark said, shifting with a rustle of black feathers. “I mean that I was in your mind. Any work that deals with minds recognizes the echo of my power, and knows that I have first claim on you. If the Laughing Fox had tried to control you it would’ve been fried. Just because I’m not there doesn’t mean my former tamers are unprotected. It took the Second Hand of Time a week to get her hooks into you when I was there, and she could only do that because she was a Great Work, so she had enough power to avoid getting fried, plus the resonance from that painting of yours and the fact that she was being very sneaky and cautious.”

* * *

**Protection**

When their class goes to the museum for a field trip on art history, he and Satoshi both feel the quiescent magic in some of the artworks, and more worrying is the one that is waking. “And this is the Maiden’s Song,” said the teacher. The aura of magic around the painting was almost tangible and Daisuke shudders. _‘Do you feel it?’_ Satoshi asks him silently. _‘Yes, it’s worryingly strong,’_ he sends back _‘I think it’s trying to draw minds into it.’_   
_‘If it succeeds…’_  
 _‘We’re all the protection they have.’_ Magic surges and they snap their attention back to the world just in time to witness everyone in the vicinity collapse as the painting let out a pulse of magic. _‘They’re just asleep,’_ comes across before he can panic _‘but their minds are in the painting now, we have time.’_   
_‘How long?’_   
A sense of ‘c _alculation',_ echoed to him, and then ' _I think around an hour before they’re stuck.’  
‘How can we get them out?’_   
_‘We’ll have to enter the song ourselves.’_   
_‘I was afraid of that.’_   
_‘We’ll have to enter it physically or we won’t be able to do anything.’_   
_‘Joy. Any idea how to do that?’_   
_‘I can’t really explain, I can show you, but we should probably be sure to shift first, for easy weapons if nothing else.’_ Daisuke nods and the two of them call out their wings, then take two steps toward the painting, vanishing from view if anyone had been awake to see them.

* * *

**Illusions**

The world of the Maidens Song is strange for an art world, things that seem solid aren’t and there is a thread of music that is easy to listen to and forget the world. After one lapse they open their mindlink wider, so they can snap each other out of entrancement. Navigating through the world of illusions is easy once the music has been beaten though, and they have an advantage when the land changes from the misty valley it had been to a craggy mountain range. Promptly taking flight they spot a mansion with sunlight on it in the midst of a grassy meadow. Remembering, that from the outside the painting had been of a woman on a terrace looking out at a meadow, they dive for the mansion and the maiden on her terrace. _'Those flowerpots shouldn’t be there,’_ he feels Satoshi think, then _‘Dai! Those flowers are the minds she took; the flowerpots are the spells binding them.’  
‘So if we break the pots she will lose her hold and we can seal her?’_  
 _‘Yes. I break the pots you seal her? You’re better at seals than I am.’_  
‘Sounds like a plan.’ Before they are even on the ground, Satoshi has let off five precise blasts, shattering the targeted pots. As the pots shatter, the flowers vanish, each taking on the misty silhouette of a classmate for a moment before vanishing. As his partner does this Daisuke goes straight for the Maiden, holding a barrier to keep her from going for his distracted partner, and harrying her with blades to attempt to burn up some of her stolen power in defense. Pot after pot smashed, blade after blade launched, and the illusions vanished one by one as the magic drained away from the Maiden, shrinking the world of the painting to what was visible from the real world. As the last illusion fades the Maiden wails, and his partner, having freed the last mind from the bindings she placed, joins him. Together they seal her, wings spread and power crackling about the three of them as she struggles. But even though this is her world she is weak with no one to draw from, and up against the two of them together she is nothing. Opening the gate back to the real world takes more effort than it took to get here, but they manage, and banish their wings as their feet touch the museum floor. 

* * *

**Recognition**

They both recognize how lucky it is that no one taken by the maiden remembered what had happened, because neither of them can erase memories. But all that the classmates seem to remember is hearing a snatch of melody, and nothing else. No recognition of the magic that had ensnared them or the two who had rescued them. No memory (fortunately) of the two of them as they truly are, winged creatures with the sky in their feathers battling an art spirit.

* * *

**Balance**

There is a balance between them, an easy harmony that comes from knowing each other so well that they work as a team instinctively when flying, fighting, sealing art, or in the more mundane things of everyday life, such as projects for school. Even their personalities are a balance, his easy caring, and tendency for laughter, with his friend’s cool, reserved, and taciturn personality and a tendency for social ineptness. It is slightly amusing how sometimes Satoshi will touch his mind briefly for reassurance before trying to be social or when dealing with trying to tell Risa that no matter how he may like her he isn’t ready for romance without being insulting.

* * *

**Rest**

“Towa, Satoshi and I are going flying tonight, will you tell mom for me?”  
“Yes master Daisuke, I’ll tell her.” Smiling at her he steps onto the balcony by his room and shifts, wings spreading to the wind, and then he takes to the sky eagerly, turning towards where he can feel Satoshi, and sure enough his partner is flying there apparently having found an updraft or thermal. _‘You’re late’_ his friend says, but Daisuke feels the warmth and affection underlying the faux grumpiness. _‘Sorry, dinner ran longer than I was expecting. But enough of that, you up for sky tag?’_ The only response to his question is Satoshi diving at him. They play until the moon is high and then after their wild game of sky tag draws to a close they land on another balcony, one across the bay from his own, and take their rest there at the Harada home.

* * *

**Pride**

Every night he talked to Dark, and whenever he and Satoshi had worked out something new with magic, Dark seemed to be proud of him. Tonight though, he had something serious to tell Dark. “So I checked in on the Kuroba family like you asked, and I found out that the current generation, Kaito Kuroba, is putting your teaching to good use.” Dark tilted his head curiously “He’s stealing? I’m so proud; my cute little apprentice has cute little descendants that take after him.” Daisuke nodded, “He’s probably worthy of the title Phantom Thief. He even sends warning notes, although they’re more cryptic than yours. I watched a heist and recognized several techniques, infiltration, diversion, misdirection, and get this” he leaned closer “he escapes on a hang glider.” Dark practically glowed at that last bit of information. “My legend has influenced others I see. If you think he is worthy of the title Phantom, oh heir of my legacy, then he probably is. Tell him that, and that I am proud of how far his family has come.” Daisuke smiled. “I’ll do that.” Then he sobered. “Dark, he’s looking for Pandora. He wants to destroy it, to keep it out of the hands of someone who I suspect murdered his father for it.” Dark bristled, half spreading his wings in anger. “Murdered! How did they even get past my wards?! I made sure Kaen had protection when I left him to his own devices, and the wards were still there forty years ago when I looked in on his son Toichi. You give him all the help he needs Dai, if Pandora is awakened again it won’t be good. And tell Creepy Boy to- Ow!” at the words Creepy Boy there had been a crackle of static. “Darn it Krad!” He glared at nothing for a moment, and then looked back at Daisuke. “Tell Satoshi about this, get him to help, and see if he can figure out who might have found out that Pandora is real.” 

* * *

**Elation**

He knew his flight was rather wobbly but couldn’t bring himself to care. ‘Dark said I am his heir!’ was the thought at the forefront of his mind. He had thought of himself that way sometimes, but that Dark had actually said it was different. The first thing he had done after waking from that ‘dream’ was slip out into the night, filled with elation, (and in the back of his mind he was glad that he didn’t really need much sleep to function) as he climbed higher and higher in celebratory, emotion fueled flight.

* * *

**Fear**

His family has a long history of thieving and despite the fact that he is an untraditional Niwa he just can’t resist stealing from under the noses of his best friend’s pretentious and stuck up clan. They have less power left than they want him to think, and can only use it in very limited ways. They try to intimidate him, insinuating that here in the heart of the Hikari he is only safe because of Satoshi’s protection, and that said protection is weak. He pretends to not understand what they’re talking about, and knows that if they tried anything against him he could deal with them easily. Not that he wants to have to, and there is a risk of them stooping to mundane methods, but only a negligible one what with their pride in their once great magic. And there is a bitter comfort in the knowledge that if anything happened to him here Satoshi would leave utter destruction in retaliation. He takes a paintbrush here, a semiprecious stone there, and in one case does so while in plain view of the Hikari who had asked Satoshi if he was a Niwa but they never notice a thing. Despite the centuries of enmity between their clans, the Hikari don’t dare to touch him, and though they pretend that it is because of Satoshi, despite their posturing he knows that they fear him, for he is more than they can ever be.

* * *

**Reaction**

After the initial shock his family were surprisingly OK with the changes he had undergone and the choice he had made to keep the magic. He neglected to tell them about the fact that he isn’t fully human anymore though, just that he had had a choice whether or not to keep the changes or stop using magic and let it fade away. He has a feeling his father suspects though, or had had some idea about the magic, just from the lack of reaction to the barrier.

* * *

**Wild**

Going flying and then visiting Riku is becoming a habit, and she doesn’t seem to mind. He is glad of her acceptance of his less than human traits. The look she gave him the one time he and Satoshi had been going wild in a storm before visiting though was worrying. He has never visited her after storm diving and lightning dodging again, in worry that a bit too much of his inhumanity for her to be comfortable with shows at those times. He knows that while she may accept that he isn’t really human she doesn’t truly understand what that means, and so he tries to not make her uncomfortable.

* * *

**Truth**

If any normal person knew the truth about him it would shatter their world. Magic shouldn’t be real, and knowledge of it was lost during the cultural reform, which he considers rather dumb. If knowledge of magic is gone but magic isn’t gone then trouble will result, and it’s impossible to destroy everything magical in the world. For one thing the Hikari are still around to create lesser works, although they lost the ability to create Great Works sometime between the creation of the Black Wings and the cultural reform, with the Edge of Sorrows as the last Great Work that had been made on purpose. Towa is unique in that she is a Great Work that was made such by accident, and the Hikari who created her had no idea what he had done or how to do it again. Daisuke privately suspects that Towa’s status as a Great work has to do with out of control magic and the fact that her art form was exceptionally well known for decades, with the love and adoration she received giving her power in her formative years. His other theory is that the Hikari who made her actually loved his work, and that the emotions of her creator had given her a head start on magic. Future He tries not to think about the fact that he most likely has a very long lifetime ahead of him, a future of agelessness once he reaches a certain point, although what that point will be neither of them know. When he chose magic over being a normal human he wasn’t expecting to get immortality out of it, nor particularly wants it. Despite this he does not regret his choice, because if he had chosen a human life he would’ve been unable to protect his class from the Maiden’s Song. He thinks about the fact that he isn’t human, and about the magic he has, but not about the future he is likely to have. Ah well, at least he won’t be alone. _‘Are you all right Daisuke?_ ’  
Daisuke rolls over in bed as Satoshi’s thoughts brush his own. _‘I’m fine._ ’   
A whisper of skepticism comes across as his friend replies _‘I could feel your thoughts from across town Dai, what’s going on?’_   
He sighs _‘I was thinking about the future, and how long we’re likely to live.’_   
_‘Ah,’_ A ripple of understanding, then _‘live in the now while you can Daisuke, don’t borrow trouble before it’s due to hit. Worry about that when we stop aging, not before.’_

 

* * *

**Blown**

He let the wind take him where it will, blowing him this way and that like a storm tossed leaf, paying only enough attention to flight to keep his wings open instead of crashing. Most of his attention was focused on the pain in his heart, the Harada’s were moving away. Riku and Risa didn’t like this anymore than he and Satoshi did but their parents had returned from their overseas vacation to announce that they were moving and perforce so were the sisters. He cried out his pain to the storm around him, because there was no one to hear him or witness his pain and sorrow fueled flight; humans were all sensibly indoors, not out in the stormy night risking illness. And none would look up to see him now, he was alone and unseen, flying ever higher in the night. He knew if anyone were to glance at the storm-torn sky they would see him, beacon of flame red against the black and gray that he was, but he could not care, he dared them to look and see him as he truly was: His loud friend the aspiring reporter, his still human family, or the love of his life to know what he had truly become, for he could not hide any longer. He was magic. He was the sunset sky. He was no longer fully human, and now more than ever it shows. A flash of silver blue, how could he have forgotten the other; the one who had been his only friend, who knew of his family duty, and curse. The one who had been his opponent and enemy by blood and tradition yet stood by him through it all, the one who had a curse and duty the opposite of his own. The only one like him in all the world, between magic and mortality as he was, wrought by the same circumstances as his change. He was not alone after all, and the reminder let the pain of the loss of the love of his life, who knew and accepted if she did not understand, subside to a dull ache. Between the two of them there was no need to hide, thoughts, feelings, or magic outbursts caused by heartbreak making the less human side of his mind come to the forefront —as is the case now, there was only the emotion fueled flight, the other way to cry.

**Author's Note:**

> *Second Hand of time and Wedge of time **release the seal that kept the broken Black wings from absorbing all magic and life it could reach until it managed to pull Dark and Krad back to it *** the Black Wings itself ****Towa and Argentine


End file.
